Mr. Packham, or anyone who can answer, do you think Brigham Young was honest? Or did he know that Joseph Smith was a fraud? I'd also like to ask this question of Grant Palmer, since Palmer has so much negative information on Smith. Smith was a bad, bad, bad guy according to Palmer, not simply a charlatan. Was Young also a bad, bad guy, or was he fooled by Smith? Regardless of his behavior, did he really believe, or not?

Did Stalin know Lenin was evil?

Based on everything I've read, I believe that BY was in on the con and was every bit as evil as JS. He may have joined as an unsuspecting dupe, but he turned out to be one sick f*#%.

Brigham Young was a sociopath. I doubt it mattered to him one way or another if the churches claims were true.

Brigham believed it. He also believed very strongly in himself.
He was arrogant and self centered, much like a certain politician
who's making the news a lot these days. What Mormonism did for
Brigham was to let him believe that his thoughts and desires were
the thoughts and desires of God. That's why he could rip people
off for thousands of dollars and feel good about himself in the
process. He never had any self doubt. To doubt the Church would
have meant to doubt himself. And that was not in the cards.

Agree with baura--he snagged power in a vacuum, and rode it for all it was worth, acting like a god (who he thought he would become).

An Old Testament god.........

Joseph Smith, like Hitler, died early. Brigham Young, like Stalin, lived longer. Stalin was more practical. Smith was too crazy to last very long. If he hadn't been shot, he would have been tried for treason or something else. Brigham had more patience, and was wiser than Smith was. Stalin lived to 74, died years after the war, and was politically savvy. He killed more people than Hitler did, but he was able to survive. Smith may have killed people; he tried to have people killed. If Young ordered Mountain Meadows, he may have killed more people than Smith, but did it in a clever way. Also, you can view Mountain Meadows as part of the Utah War, meant as a military move to prevent worse atrocities. Smith wanted to kill to protect the Church, but also to protect himself. Young didn't need to kill to protect himself. Smith took his enemies more personally than Young did. Today's leaders are more like Young than Smith. Some of today's leaders believe while some do not. Like them, Young was heavily into administration, and may or not have believed.

People may think Mountain Meadows was more about vengeance than a military strategy. Even if it was only vengeance on the part of Brigham Young, it reveals his vengeful character (assuming he ordered it). Maybe he was so vengeful that he didn't care much about truth. According to Grant Palmer, Smith tried to kill William Law and Governor Boggs. Was this vengeance, or was he trying to protect himself and the Church? Maybe both. Young had a reason to be vengeful that Smith didn't have: the "martyrdom" of Joseph, Hyrum, and Pratt. Loyalty meant a lot to Young, and maybe he was loyal to Smith regardless of the truth. He had a high regard for Smith, so maybe it was a personality thing. He had a tribal mentality: fiercely loyalty to friends and very hostile, and at times vengeful, to enemies.

After a moderate amount of study, I don't believe there's Solid, still existing Evidence to show "prove" that BY directly ordered the MMM, but he certainly set the groundwork in place, perhaps suggesting or directing subordinates in what was wanted.

That there was a cover-up & charging family for care of surviving children AND profiting from the travellers property can't be reasonably denied.

I thank Juanita Brooks for her courage along with her sponsors for bringing it to life, it was a major factor in loss of my confidence 'faith' in LDS, Inc.